This invention relates to the art of chess games and, more particularly, to an improved three player chess game in which the pieces of each set of game pieces are initially positioned adjacent to a different side of a game board having hexagonal spaces and six sides.
Modified chess games designed for play by three players are known in the art, but these games fail to maintain the true feel of a traditional chess game while allowing effective engagement of two opponents. This is a result, in part, of the configuration of the chess board which restricts the movements of the game pieces. In this respect, some prior art game boards require the game pieces to be initially set up unconventionally, thereby, restricting the initial moves of the game pieces at the start of the game. Initial movements are restricted by the initial position of one game piece blocking a move of other game pieces or by the number of spaces between the opponents' game pieces preventing a traditional opening move strategy. Moreover, some disclosed game boards have configurations and layouts which inhibit simultaneous engagement with two opponents. Simultaneous engagement requires the game pieces to have the ability to effectively shift their engagement from one opponent to the other opponent. If too many game pieces become committed to engaging with one opponent, an offensive move by the other opponent cannot be effectively addressed by those pieces. As a result, the game pieces of each opponent become separated into two distinct groups which separately engage each opponent, thereby, restricting multiple piece strategies as found in a traditional chess game. Furthermore, some of the prior game boards restrict the movement ability of the game pieces by having an undesirable game space shape or and undesirable ratio between open spaces and occupied spaces. Too many or too few open spaces require unconventional moves to engage the opponents and inhibit simultaneous engagement.
The Rewega U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,302 (hereinafter "the '302 patent") discloses a three player chess game comprising a truncated triangular game board on which the game pieces are initially positioned unconventionally. While traditional chess games have the game pieces set up in two rows, the '302 patent discloses a chess game where the game pieces are set up in three rows at the truncated corners of the board. The '302 patent also discloses less pawns than a traditional chess game. This unconventional set-up creates restrictions in the initial moves of the game pieces. Furthermore, the reduced number of pawns and limited open spaces of the game board reduce the number of potential moves during the chess game. As a result, the '302 patent discloses a chess game that fails to play and have the same feel as a traditional chess game.
The Anderson, et al U.S. Pat. No.4,653,759 (hereinafter "the '759 patent") also discloses a three player chess game. The '759 patent discloses three conventional spaced game boards which are combined by a common central triangular game board section. Even though the '759 patent discloses a game board that allows the game pieces to be set up in the standard positions, the disclosed game board does not allow a three player chess game to have the feel of a traditional two player chess game. In a traditional two player chess game, the initial moves of each player position game pieces, normally pawns, to allow engagement and capture of opposing game pieces. By separating the three chess boards with a common triangular board section, multiple moves are required before game pieces are allowed to engage an opposing game piece. In addition, the game board in the '759 patent reduces the ability to engage both opponents simultaneously. Once a game piece has been committed to engaging one opponent, that game piece will no longer be in an effective position to engage the game pieces of the second opponent. Therefore, the '759 patent discloses a three player chess game which does not play similar to that of a traditional chess game, nor does it disclose a chess game that allows effective three player engagement.
The Faraci U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,241 (hereinafter "the '241 patent") discloses a three player chess game which utilizes a triangular game board with triangular spaces. Furthermore, the game board includes three separate and individual starting positions for the individual game pieces of each player outside the triangle and along the sides thereof This set up will shield the game pieces from the opponents' game pieces and minimize their initial movements, thereby, reducing the feel of a traditional chess game. The use of triangular spaces creates a chess game that has a different feel than that of a traditional chess game. This is a result of the reduced number of directions for movement due to the triangular spaces. Effective engagement of both opponents requires a higher degree of move potential than is allowed with triangular spaces. Another factor is the elimination by Faraci of the knight game piece. Knights are an important element of the traditional game of chess, and their elimination further reduces the traditional feel of the game.
The Treugut, et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,242 (hereinafter "the '242 patent") discloses a three player chess game having a six sided game board utilizing triangular spaces. As with the '241 patent, the triangular spaces of this game board restrict the degree of movement required to create the feel of a traditional chess game when three players engage in the game of chess.
The Hale U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,065 (hereinafter "the '065 patent") discloses a chess game including a truncated triangular game board and playing surface utilizing hexagonal spaces, but again the disclosed chess game lacks the feel of a traditional chess game. The traditional "feel" is lost for a number of reasons. First, a player's bishops are not capable of engaging either opponents' bishops. This is a result of the initial set up of the bishop and its movement. The bishops are initially positioned flanking the king and queen, both bishops being on game spaces of the same color, either white, red or black. Furthermore, each player's bishops are initially positioned on game spaces of a different color from that of the bishops of the other two players. In this respect, the white player's bishops are on white spaces, the red player's bishops are on red spaces, and the black player's bishops are on black spaces. Therefore, based on the movement of a bishop, which results in the bishops remaining on spaces of the same color, this set up creates a game in which the bishops of one player are not capable of engagement and capture of the bishops of either opponent, thereby failing to create the feel of a traditional chess game. Second, the '065 patent discloses a game board in which three of the six sides contain eight game spaces, while the remaining three sides merely contain six spaces. This game board configuration reduces the traditional chess game feel in two aspects. First, the outer pawns of each player are initially disposed such that they can be as close as two spaces from a pawn of both opposing players. Second, the ratio between open spaces and occupied spaces is reduced, thereby, not allowing the traditional two player move strategies.
The Jenkins U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,247 (hereinafter "the '247 patent") discloses a chess game which utilizes a hexagonal game board and spaces, but it is restricted by its size. The '247 patent discloses only seven spaces per side of the game board. As with the '065 patent, a game board with only seven spaces per side reduces the traditional chess game feel by restricting movement of the game pieces caused by the reduction in the ratio between open spaces and occupied spaces. Furthermore, due to the size of the game board, the game pieces must be initially positioned in an unconventional manner. In this respect, the '247 patent discloses the game pieces set up in the comers of the game board, not on the sides, thereby restricting initial movements of the game pieces. In addition, only seven pawns are used, as opposed to the traditional eight pawns of a two player chess game. The result is a chess game which fails to play and have the feel of a traditional chess game.
The Baker U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,787 (hereinafter "the '787 patent") discloses a three player game board, having nine spaces per side. This results in a game board having 217 spaces, thereby, creating too large of a ratio between open spaces and occupied spaces. This reduces traditional chess game feel by requiring an undesirable number of moves before capturing an opposing player' game pieces. Furthermore, having a large number of spaces on the board restricts a player's opportunity to have simultaneous engagement with both opponents by requiring multiple moves before some game pieces can shift from engaging one opponent to engaging the other opponent.
By utilizing triangular spaces, the movements of the game pieces are limited and simultaneous engagement with the opposing players is difficult. Utilizing hexagonal playing spaces solves some of the movement problems of the game pieces, but creates problems with respect to the bishops. In this respect, based on the standard movement of the bishop, the bishop will remain on spaces of the same color when three colors are used to differentiate the spaces on the board. As a result, the use of two bishops both initially positioned on one color, which is different for each player, reduces the traditional chess game feel by not allowing the bishops of one player to engage the bishops of the opposing players. In an attempt to solve this problem, prior art has utilized three bishops, but the disclosed use of three bishops fails to solve the problem due to the unconventional initial positioning of the game pieces required by the board configuration. The result is the restricted and unconventional initial move capabilities of the disclosed bishops reducing the feel of a traditional chess game. Furthermore, this unconventional initial configuration prevents bishops from being moved until multiple movements of other game pieces are made, further reducing the traditional feel of the chess game by requiring multiple unconventional moves before the bishops can be utilized. Another problem associated with engaging two opponents simultaneously is the limited movement ability of the pawns. The prior art does not disclose pawns that are able to effectively engage both opponents simultaneously. As disclosed, by restricting pawns to only forward movements, pawns are limited to effective engagement with only one opponent. By only moving forward, the pawns have only limited ability to retreat and engage the second opponent. Furthermore, by utilizing a game board which requires a reduction in the number of pawns per set of game pieces accentuates the problem of simultaneous engagement by the pawns. When engaging two opponents, a reduced number of pawns limits the ability to engage both opponents by restricting the number of forward-move-only pawns which can be committed to engage each opponent separately.
An improper ratio between open spaces and occupied spaces reduces the traditional chess game feel in many ways. When the number of open spaces is too large, too many moves are required to engage both of the opponents. Furthermore, simultaneous engagement between both opponents is restricted. Once a game piece has been committed to engage one opponent, many moves may be required to use that same piece against the second opponent. Conversely, too few open spaces limit the movement ability of some game pieces and reduce multiple move strategies. Therefore, a chess game with the optimal open space ratio allows simultaneous engagement with two opponents and allows strategic multiple moves, thereby, maintaining the feel of a traditional two player chess game with a three player chess board.
Therefore, it will be appreciated that the prior art relating to three player chess games fails to create a chess game that allows three players to play simultaneously without sacrificing the feel of a traditional chess game, both with respect to traditional moves of the game pieces and the size of the playing field, provided by the game board and its configuration. In this respect, prior art such as that disclosed above, disclose three player chess games which do not have the optimal number and type of game pieces that are capable of traditional movements. Furthermore, they do not disclose a game board with a configuration and a ratio of open spaces to occupied spaces that creates substantially the same feel as a traditional two player chess game.